


In with the Old

by akh



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 00:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13963566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akh/pseuds/akh
Summary: It is no surprise to Ada, now, to find her deputy meticulously clearing up even the small space she had reluctantly agreed to occupy upstairs."A New Dawn" post-ep.





	In with the Old

Ada is not sure when exactly Hecate had slipped back inside, but she suspects it must have been while she and the girls had still been waving Pippa goodbye, watching as the last sparkles following her broom slowly disappeared somewhere in the distant horizon.

She had felt Hecate’s presence behind her earlier, for a moment, like she would feel her presence anywhere, but the moment had been brief, and she must have moved away soon after. Where to, Ada could easily guess.

With a snap of her fingers, she transfers herself from the school grounds, where the children are finally dispersing, to the office she can once again call her own - the office which Hecate would not make hers even while it had, for a while, by rights belonged to her.

It is no surprise to Ada, now, to find her deputy meticulously clearing up even the small space she had reluctantly agreed to occupy upstairs. 

"Hecate," she calls out gently to make her presence known. She can see Hecate's back stiffen for a moment at the sound of her voice, but then she resumes her work without turning, apparently sorting items into two different piles. One, Ada assumes, to be sent back to Hecate’s own office and another, containing mainly all manner of papers that are part of the headmistress's daily work, to be sent down to Ada's desk.

Ada raises her hand to transfer herself to Hecate’s side but then thinks better of it, letting her hand fall to her side as she chooses to take the stairs instead, giving Hecate more time to accept and adjust to her presence.

“There’s really no hurry to do that, you know,” she says as she slowly makes her way towards the stairs. “Unless you don’t want to be here, in which case I respect your wish of course.”

At her last words, Hecate pauses and finally turns to look at Ada with a pained expression. Her mouth opens as if to say something but then closes again without emitting a sound.

“Hecate?” Ada tries gently, pausing at the stairs as Hecate turns away again.

“I told Miss Pentangle this was my office,” she mutters at last, fingers never pausing as she continues to swipe items to left and right, depending on where they need to be sent. “I told her to step into _my_ office.”

Ada pauses to consider for a moment, watches as Hecate’s already impossibly rigid shoulders seem to square even more.

“And you were right to do so,” Ada finally reminds her gently. “You were the acting headmistress and this is the headmistress’s office.”

Hecate sighs, the slight lowering of her shoulders perceptible only to one as aware of her every move as Ada is, having learned to read volumes in every minute shift of her body. When she turns to face Ada again, her expression is a soft mixture of tenderness and remorse.

“That may be true, Ada, but it doesn’t make it right,” she says, “This has always been your office, and yet…” Hecate falters, casting her eyes down as she struggles to keep her usual composure.

Ada walks up the remaining steps and pauses before Hecate, leaving what she considers to be enough space between them. Then she waits.

“Ada,” Hecate starts again eventually, the name passing her lips like an endearment as she looks earnestly at the owner of the name. “You must know I would never wish to take over as headmistress, nor claim this office as my own, and yet I…” again she falters, but this time forces herself to press on: “I think I...enjoyed being able to use the words _my office_ as I told Pip...Miss Pentangle to step in.”

Ada’s eyes dart to Hecate’s fingers, fidgeting nervously as she waits for Ada to say something, and then back to that angular face she has long considered to be the most important fixture in her office, those usually stern features now arranged in a look of consternation. It is all Ada can do to stop her own relief from bubbling out in a delighted laughter.

“Oh, Hecate, “ Ada smiles, shaking her head as she steps closer. “Is that all?” She had feared that, perhaps, somewhere deep down Hecate had begun to wonder what it would have been like to run the school with Pippa after all.

“All?” Hecate repeats. “But I…”

“It’s all right, Hecate,” Ada assures her and then reaches her hand forward, no longer able to resist the temptation of smoothing away those worried lines of Hecate’s face herself.

They have their rules, some mutually agreed upon, some unspoken, but by all standards it is a forward move barely at the end of a school day, in an office that remains unlocked. Ada is not surprised when Hecate’s head jerks as if from an electric shock when Ada’s fingers first make contact with the skin of her cheek. It is the fact that she doesn’t pull away that surprises Ada more. After recovering from the shock of the unexpected contact, Hecate allows her lids to close for a moment and relaxes into the familiar touch, warm skin meeting cool, worn fingers meeting the surprisingly soft texture of a face not many would otherwise describe by that word.

“Ada…” It’s impossible to tell if the word is an argument or a greeting, a thank you or a warning. Perhaps it is all of those things at once.

“You wanted to show Miss Pentangle her place,” Ada replies as if they had never been distracted from the original issue, “to remind her that she wasn’t the headmistress yet. Perhaps even take some momentary pleasure in being her superior. Isn’t that right?”

She can feel the slight movement of Hecate’s head as she gives a curt nod, and then the clench of her jaw as she swallows.

Finally, Hecate brings her own hand up to briefly cover Ada’s over her cheek before slowly guiding them both down. Fortunately, Ada knows Hecate better than to read this gentle but firm move as a rebuff. She knows that what she has given is simply enough, for now.

“It was still the wrong thing to say, and even the wrong thing to feel,” Hecate says at last, sounding more like her usual self again, judging her own actions with an analytical coolness that rarely lead her astray. “Sometimes she...simply brings out the worst in me, and yet if it weren’t for Pippa...”

Hecate pauses, looking at Ada again with those dark eyes where some echo of regret still lingers and Ada can almost see the reel of what ifs running through her mind. She is about to remind Hecate that it is her turn to stop tormenting herself, but then decides on a different course of action that seems more to the purpose.

“And what about Mildred?” Ada asks, managing to infuse her tone with enough of a teasing lilt. “According to Miss Pentangle it is Mildred we ought to thank above anyone. I trust you have done so already?”

The effect of the name on Hecate is as immediate as Ada could have hoped, producing an almost passable scowl as Hecate clears her throat and straightens her back.

“I...cancelled her detention, of course” she replies, some colour at last rising to her cheeks. To feel indebted to a student, especially one as troublesome as Mildred Hubble, is not something Hecate will likely ever learn to feel comfortable about, nor will Ada ever tire of teasing her on account of it.

“That was very kind of you,” she smiles, raising her eyebrows. “Anything else?”

Hecate clears her throat.

“I...uh...will also cancel her next detention, whatever it may turn out to be about,” Hecate offers, smiling that slightly strained but not disingenuous smile of hers that somehow never fails to tug at Ada’s heartstrings. “Not that I told her that, of course,” she adds more dryly.

“And Maud and Enid? I daresay they helped too.”

Hecate’s eyes widen.

“They…” she struggles for the words. “Will be...exempt from detention, too.”

From Hecate, it’s a considerable concession.

Ada accepts her words with a reassuring nod as she resists the urge to touch Hecate again.

“Good,” she says. “I believe the girls have earned it, don’t you?”

Hecate’s face softness and she, too, nods her head in agreement, her eyes saying more than she would ever be able to express in words.

“Good,” Ada repeats, extracting her eyes from Hecate after a while to look around her office for a moment in quiet contemplation. 

Eventually, her gaze lands on the single red rose on her desk, as it always tends to do when she surveys the room. She can still remember the staff dinner, many years ago, when she had quarreled with Hecate over the use of the school greenhouse, and whether it should be used exclusively to produce ingredients for potions, or if some part of it could be harnessed to cultivate ornamental flowers as well. Roses, mainly, for Ada had always loved roses.

They had not reached an agreement that night, but the next morning a red rose had waited for Ada on her desk, as it had every morning since that day.

They had not been together then, nor would they be for many years to come, but the sight of the rose had always been a source of joy for Ada - a reminder that even when the two of them disagreed, she never needed to question Hecate's loyalty. The fact that her love for the bearer had long since eclipsed her love for the flower itself was only an added bonus.

“Ada?” Hecate’s questioning voice brings her back to the present.

“I was looking at the rose, Hecate,” Ada hums.

“Oh,” Hecate replies in a clipped tone and Ada can see from the corner of her eye as colour rises to her cheeks. 

For something that has been there so long, it’s remarkable how they have never actually addressed it out loud.

She turns to Hecate now, her mind fully made up.

“I was thinking that while you may not consider this office as your own, _I_ think that you do belong here. You always have.” She raises her hand to stop Hecate from speaking. “I know you will want the peace and quiet of your own office from time to time, and I’m sure there will be times I will appreciate it in mine, but why not leave some of your things up here, make this your back up office?”

“But Ada…” Hecate starts and then stops, realising she has no real argument against the arrangement.

“You are my deputy, after all,” Ada says with a barely noticeable wink, “and we do make a great team.” She pauses for a moment to gauge Hecate’s thoughts. “Nothing could be more proper,” she adds hopefully after a beat.

“Well,“ Hecate says, “if you think it would be…”

“But what do _you_ think, Hecate?” Ada interrupts her gently. “This is not an executive order.”

Instead of replying, Hecate flicks her wrist and a pile of papers flies off, landing neatly on Ada’s desk. Another flick sends another other pile somewhere out of sight, presumably into Hecate’s own office.

Ada tries to smile against her disappointment. “I see,” she says quietly. Perhaps it had been too much to suggest too soon.

Now it is Hecate’s turn to suppress a smile. “For Kirke’s sake, Ada,” she sighs in feigned frustration, flicking her wrist one more time to open a drawer of the desk in front of her, revealing the stack of papers she had just moved. “I was just making some more room.”

“Hecate Hardbroom!” Ada grins as she shakes her head, squeezing Hecate's hand briefly. “You are one wicked witch.”


End file.
